The Aloha ʻĀina Drone Company believes cutting edge drone technology can, and more importantly should, empower, protect, and benefit Hawaiʻi’s natural resources. To honor this belief, and the principal and promise of Aloha ʻĀina, we chose this name to remind, guide, and inspire ourselves to prove that advanced technologies should exist to not only better humanity, but all natural systems.

Comprised of three world-experts with over 30 combined years of experience in using drones for conservation efforts, our team has dedicated their professional lives to making the natural world a better place through transforming cutting-edge technologies into practical, field-ready tools capable of significant conservation impact.

Based in Hilo, Hawaiʻi, we have conducted ground-breaking conservation and agricultural focused drone operations on Hawaiʻi Island, Maui, Lāna'i, Kahoʻolawe, Oahu, and Kauai, as well as island systems in the Galapagos,  Caribbean, Tahiti, Fiji, The Marshall Islands, Palau, Wallis and Futuna, and across the United States. 

Who We Are

Meet the Team

  • Timo Sullivan, M.S.

    Founder, CEO

    Raised on a farm in Kealakekua, Hawaiʻi, Timo has spent his entire life combatting invasive species. He holds a Master of Science degree in tropical environmental science and conservation biology from the University of Hawaiʻi at Hilo, and since 2012 has developed and enacted groundbreaking drone programs for conservation organizations including the Hawaiʻi Invasive Species Council, The University of Hawaiʻi, and Island Conservation. He has trail-blazed multiple drone based methods to detect, monitor, and inventory priority alien and endemic plant, animal, and pathogen species around the world. A global expert in using drone systems to detect, control, and moreover eradicate, invasive species populations, he has had the honor to help remove predatory alien species from over twenty tropical islands across the pacific via drone application.

  • Roberto Rodriguez III, Ph.D.

    Founding Partner

    Roberto is a leading expert in designing, developing, researching and utilizing drone application technologies. He holds advanced degrees in biological engineering from the University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa and has published multiple scientific research articles and white-papers examining the capacity for drones to detect and control invasive species in both the conservation and agricultural fields. He pioneered, managed, and enacted drone application operations for the USDA’s APHIS-PPQ programs, and has developed game-changing advancements in invasive species control technologies with drones, including herbicide ballistics, AI detection models, and biocontrol release efforts. He is a certified flight instructor for the FAA, and certified aerial applicator for multiple states in the USA. 

  • Ryan Perroy, Ph.D.

    Founding Partner

    Ryan has decades of experience using remote sensing techniques to support natural resources and improve livelihoods. He holds an undergraduate degree in physics from the College of Wiliam & Mary in Williamsburg, Virginia, and advanced degrees in geography and remote sensing from the University of California Santa Barbara. He has been a long-time leader in advancing the use of drones and associated novel methods to monitor and protect Hawaiʻi’s native landscapes.

Selected Publications

"A direct geolocation method for aerial imaging surveys of invasive plants."
Rodriguez III, R., D. M. Jenkins, J. Leary, and R. Perroy. International Journal of Environmental Science and Technology (2024): 1-16.

"Automated Hyperspectral Feature Selection and Classification of Wildlife Using Uncrewed Aerial Vehicles."
McCraine, Daniel, Sathishkumar Samiappan, Leon Kohler, Timo Sullivan, and David J. Will. Remote Sensing 16, no. 2 (2024): 406.

"Measuring the Adoption of Drones: A Case Study of the United States Agricultural Aircraft Sector."
Rodriguez III, Roberto. Eng 4, no. 1 (2023): 977-983.

 "Aerial branch sampling to detect forest pathogens."
Perroy, Ryan L., Philip Meier, Eszter Collier, Marc A. Hughes, Eva Brill, Timo Sullivan, Thomas Baur, Nina Buchmann, and Lisa M. Keith. Drones 6, no. 10 (2022): 275.

"Herbicide ballistic technology for unmanned aircraft systems."
Rodriguez, Roberto, James JK Leary, and Daniel M. Jenkins. Robotics 11, no. 1 (2022): 22.

"Unmanned Aircraft Systems for Surveillance and Control of Invasive Plants in Remote, Threatened Ecosystems of the Hawaiian Islands."
Rodriguez III, Roberto. PhD diss., University of Hawai'i at Manoa, (2022).

"Spatial patterns of ‘ōhi ‘a mortality associated with rapid ‘ōhi ‘a death and ungulate presence."
Perroy, Ryan L., Timo Sullivan, David Benitez, R. Flint Hughes, Lisa M. Keith, Eva Brill, Karma Kissinger, and Daniel Duda. Forests 12, no. 8 (2021): 1035.

 "Comparing interpretation of high-resolution aerial imagery by humans and artificial intelligence to detect an invasive tree species."
Rodriguez III, Roberto, Ryan L. Perroy, James Leary, Daniel Jenkins, Max Panoff, Travis Mandel, and Patricia Perez. Remote Sensing 13, no. 17 (2021): 3503.

 "Perspective: Agricultural aerial application with unmanned aircraft systems: Current regulatory framework and analysis of operators in the United States."
Rodriguez, Roberto. Transactions of the ASABE 64, no. 5 (2021): 1475-1481.

"Examining the utility of visible near-infrared and optical remote sensing for the early detection of Rapid ‘Ōhi ‘a Death."
Perroy, Ryan L., Marc Hughes, Lisa M. Keith, Eszter Collier, Timo Sullivan, and Gabriel Low. Remote Sensing 12, no. 11 (2020): 1846.

"Enhancing invasive species control with unmanned aerial systems and herbicide ballistic technology."
Rodriguez, Roberto, James JK Leary, and Daniel M. Jenkins. In 2017 ASABE Annual International Meeting, p. 1. American Society of Agricultural and Biological Engineers, (2017).

"Assessing the impacts of canopy openness and flight parameters on detecting a sub-canopy tropical invasive plant using a small unmanned aerial system." 
Perroy, Ryan L., Timo Sullivan, and Nathan Stephenson. ISPRS Journal of Photogrammetry and Remote Sensing 125 (2017): 174-183.

"The evolving agricultural landscape of post-plantation Hawai ‘i."
Perroy, Ryan L., Jeffrey Melrose, and Sylvana Cares. Applied Geography 76 (2016): 154-162.